AGANG leader Mamphela Ramphele has laid bare intimate details of her adulterous love affair with slain Black Consciousness Movement leader Steve Biko.
In her newly released autobiography A Passion for Freedom, Ramphele reveals why she did not join the DA, and labels former president Thabo Mbeki as “belligerent”.
Ramphele, who entered mainstream politics with the formation of Agang this year, retraces her life’s journey from rural Limpopo to medical school in present-day KwaZuluNatal and through the corridors of power at the World Bank.
She paints herself as an independent, intelligent and selfless community activist who challenged society’s stereotypes about women, refusing to give up smoking at the insistence of her boyfriend and female friends.
She also writes extensively about her “triangular relationship” with Biko, who she met at the University of Natal Medical School in 1969.
Ramphele reveals how she was forced to make a last-minute decision to marry either her “first serious boyfriend” Dick Mmabane or Biko. “In the second half of 1969, it became increasingly difficult to resist Steve’s advances. I fell hopelessly in love with him, but would not even admit this to myself. We conducted a semi-platonic friendship which frequently ‘degenerated’ into passion.
“I became increasingly distressed at my dilemma. How could I desert Dick after all these years, particularly after his mother’s death? I could not bear the thought of hurting him. But what of my passionate love for Steve? I was faced with a serious dilemma.”
In the end, after lobola of R200, she married Mmabane. But the couple separated a year later and eventually divorced. This left her in a fix as Biko was already married to Ntsiki.
She writes how Biko reignited the relationship with a hand-delivered love letter while his wife was on maternity leave. “That night was the happiest I had experienced in years. We celebrated our reunion in style. We naively vowed not to hurt the innocent party – Steve’s wife.
“Life became increasingly complex as we tried vainly not to make our relationship a public affair. But it was impossible to stop the tongues wagging.”
Fast-forward to the present, she says that since her return from the World Bank in the US, Helen Zille has been trying to persuade her to join the DA.
The talks came to nought as she “felt the DA people failed to understand the extent to which the country needed to change”.
Ramphele cited the fact that there were still squatter camps in Cape Town even though it had been in the DA’s hands for seven years.
She takes a swipe at former president Thabo Mbeki, saying: “His belligerent attitude had struck terror into the hearts of many academics and commentators who were labelled as counter-revolutionaries the moment their public comment did not toe the party line”.
She says this kind of attitude from the ANC struck fear among the country’s citizens.
“Under apartheid white people had been as fearful as black people and now both groups had gone back into the same defeatist mood.” She says her decision to form Agang was not a spur-of-the-moment one, but a gradual shift in her thinking.
Ramphele recalls ‘complex’ love affair with Steve Biko
In her newly released autobiography A Passion for Freedom, Ramphele reveals why she did not join the DA, and labels former president Thabo Mbeki as “belligerent”.
Ramphele, who entered mainstream politics with the formation of Agang this year, retraces her life’s journey from rural Limpopo to medical school in present-day KwaZuluNatal and through the corridors of power at the World Bank.
She paints herself as an independent, intelligent and selfless community activist who challenged society’s stereotypes about women, refusing to give up smoking at the insistence of her boyfriend and female friends.
She also writes extensively about her “triangular relationship” with Biko, who she met at the University of Natal Medical School in 1969.
Ramphele reveals how she was forced to make a last-minute decision to marry either her “first serious boyfriend” Dick Mmabane or Biko. “In the second half of 1969, it became increasingly difficult to resist Steve’s advances. I fell hopelessly in love with him, but would not even admit this to myself. We conducted a semi-platonic friendship which frequently ‘degenerated’ into passion.
“I became increasingly distressed at my dilemma. How could I desert Dick after all these years, particularly after his mother’s death? I could not bear the thought of hurting him. But what of my passionate love for Steve? I was faced with a serious dilemma.”
In the end, after lobola of R200, she married Mmabane. But the couple separated a year later and eventually divorced. This left her in a fix as Biko was already married to Ntsiki.
She writes how Biko reignited the relationship with a hand-delivered love letter while his wife was on maternity leave. “That night was the happiest I had experienced in years. We celebrated our reunion in style. We naively vowed not to hurt the innocent party – Steve’s wife.
“Life became increasingly complex as we tried vainly not to make our relationship a public affair. But it was impossible to stop the tongues wagging.”
Fast-forward to the present, she says that since her return from the World Bank in the US, Helen Zille has been trying to persuade her to join the DA.
The talks came to nought as she “felt the DA people failed to understand the extent to which the country needed to change”.
Ramphele cited the fact that there were still squatter camps in Cape Town even though it had been in the DA’s hands for seven years.
She takes a swipe at former president Thabo Mbeki, saying: “His belligerent attitude had struck terror into the hearts of many academics and commentators who were labelled as counter-revolutionaries the moment their public comment did not toe the party line”.
She says this kind of attitude from the ANC struck fear among the country’s citizens.
“Under apartheid white people had been as fearful as black people and now both groups had gone back into the same defeatist mood.” She says her decision to form Agang was not a spur-of-the-moment one, but a gradual shift in her thinking.
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